King Crab Rolls, Northern Lights & Sled Ride

This evening is a dinner as much as a tour: instead of a restaurant in Kirkenes, you eat freshly made king crab rolls by a campfire in the Pasvik Valley, in a small group of no more than 7 guests.

We pick you up in Kirkenes and drive to our office, where you change into a warm snowsuit. From there, it’s a 20-minute drive to a parking area in the Pasvik Valley, where the tour begins. You sit down in a sled on soft reindeer furs, and we set off across the frozen lake towards Namdalen Wilderness Lodge, pulled by snowmobile. The ride is already part of the experience: snow-covered forest along the shore, a wide open sky, and no lights except our own. If the Northern Lights appear, we stop and watch.

At the lodge, which we have all to ourselves, we light a campfire and show you around. Then dinner starts. We fry the king crab in a pan over the open fire and make the rolls fresh right there: warm, sweet crab meat in a soft roll, two rolls per person. Think of it as the Arctic cousin of the New England lobster roll.

Around the fire, we share stories about the local wildlife and everyday life here in the borderland between Norway, Finland and Russia. For dessert, there’s hot chocolate, alcohol-free gløgg, as well as popcorn and marshmallows to toast over the fire. If it’s too cold to sit outside, we move into our traditional Sámi lavvu and gather around the fire there.

The Pasvik Valley is home to Øvre Pasvik National Park, Norway’s first certified International Dark Sky Park. With no light pollution, conditions for spotting the Northern Lights are excellent. Later in the evening, we head back by sled across the frozen lake, with one more chance to see the aurora, before we drive you back to Kirkenes.